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Swansea logo
Championship | Gameweek 40
Apr 5, 2021 at 3pm UK
Liberty Stadium
Preston North End logo

Swansea
0 - 1
Preston


Guehi (45'), Lowe (64')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Grimes (90+1' og.)

Swansea 0-1 Preston: Late Matt Grimes own goal settles tie

Swansea 0-1 Preston: Late Matt Grimes own goal settles tie
© Reuters
Matt Grimes diverted Scott Sinclair's stoppage-time effort into his own net.

Scott Sinclair came off the bench to haunt his former club by creating a last-minute winner that put another dent in Swansea's promotion hopes as Preston ran out 1-0 winners.

Sinclair scored a hat-trick in the play-off final for the Swans at Wembley in 2011 that took them into the Premier League for the first time.

A decade on it was his shot that went in to the home net via the unfortunate Matt Grimes to earn Preston the points.

It was nothing less than they deserved after dominating most of the match and creating the clear-cut chances.  It was Preston's first win in Swansea for 60 years and made it four points out of six since the departure of Alex Neil.

It was the fourth game in a row that Swansea had failed to score and their fourth defeat in a row – the first time that has happened to them under Steve Cooper.

Cooper made four changes to the side that had slumped to a third successive defeat at Birmingham on Good Friday and also tinkered with his formation, switching to a back four instead of three.

Ben Cabango, Ryan Manning, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Whittaker all came in to a side looking to keep in touch with the top two teams. Watford's 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough meant they were 10 points behind second place with games in hand.

Cooper had never lost three games in a row in charge of the Swans before last weekend, but equally worrying was that his side failed to score in all three defeats.

Swansea have the best defensive record in the Championship, but they have scored the fewest goals of the promotion candidates.

Preston arrived for Frankie McAvoy's second game in temporary charge looking to build on their 1-1 home draw with league leaders Norwich last time out and it was the last-gasp hero of that game, Brad Potts, who had the game's first clear chance in the 21st minute.

Preston had done all the pressing up until that point and Potts' right-footed effort fizzed over the bar from the edge of the area.

That was a warning to the home side and the Preston dangerman forced Freddie Woodman to push another flicked effort over the top 10 minutes later after Jamal Lowe had given away the ball and the visitors had put together an incisive counter attack.

Swansea's first real chance came from a free-kick that gave Cabango a chance to attack in the Preston box, but his header went narrowly wide.

The home side then gave Preston one last chance to break the deadlock at the end of the first half when Marc Guehi hauled down Ched Evans on the edge of the area. He picked up a yellow card before Potts blasted way over the top.

New Jamaica international Lowe picked up a yellow card rather than a penalty in the 64th minute went he went over the top of Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen.

Preston were gifted another great counter-attacking opportunity when Connor Roberts gave away the ball just inside the visitors' half and they were quick to send Potts racing forward.

His shot from the left hand side of the box was part blocked by Grimes and it spun just over the bar, but the midfielder was not as fortunate when Sinclair tried his luck in stoppage time.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
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2Sunderland1695226121432
3Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1610422191232
4Burnley168621961330
5Middlesbrough1683529191027
6West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom166821811726
7Watford168262524126
8Millwall166641914524
9Blackburn RoversBlackburn156451917222
10Bristol City165742020022
11Derby CountyDerby165562020020
12Stoke CityStoke165561920-120
13Norwich CityNorwich164752524119
14Swansea CitySwansea165471414019
15Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds165471826-819
16Luton TownLuton165381826-818
17Coventry CityCoventry164572223-117
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd164571924-517
19Plymouth ArgylePlymouth164571728-1117
20Preston North EndPreston163761624-816
21Cardiff CityCardiff164481524-916
22Hull City163671621-515
23Portsmouth152671628-1212
24Queens Park RangersQPR161871326-1311


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